Immigrant Participation in Low-Wage Labor Markets

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: December 1998

Abstract

This paper analyzes immigrant participation in low-wage labor markets in the United States. Compared to natives, immigrants are overrepresented in low-wage jobs throughout their U.S. careers, and this overrepresentation is most severe for recent arrival cohorts. Immigration's impact on less skilled natives, however, may be cushioned by the fact that low-wage immigrants possess different kinds of human capital and work in different types of jobs than low-wage natives. Finally, available data give no indication that immigrants are especially vulnerable to being paid less than the federal minimum wage.